Human Rights Concern - Eritrea (HRCE) is an independent, non-profit making, human rights organization based in UK. The organization is dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights of Eritreans at home and all over the world. HRCE believes that all human beings are equal regardless of race, religion, gender and political affiliation and strives for a peaceful Eritrea where fundamental human rights are respected.

The Truth about Voluntary Repatriation of Eritrean Refugees to Africa from Israel

Israel wishes the world to believe that Eritrean asylum seekers in Israel are being offered a voluntary option of a guaranteed safe return to a friendly country in East Africa, all agreed and paid for by Israel. According to the Israel ministry of Interior, 4,500 Eritrean and Sudanese asylum seekers have left Israel for Rwanda and Uganda under this Israeli scheme.

The only truth in this offer is that the air fares are paid by Israel and a “bribe” of USD3,500 is paid to each returnee.

But this is not voluntary: the alternative is indefinite imprisonment in Israel.

And this is not a “guarantee” of safety legally agreed with another African country. No security is promised; no permanent residence provided. No asylum or refugee status is offered to them.

What happened when Eritrean refugees arrived in Uganda? How true was the guarantee arranged by Israel and offered by Uganda? How safe were they?

Human Rights Concern – Eritrea managed to speak to some Eritreans who were sent from Israel to Uganda, in February 2018, and we discovered:

On arrival in Uganda, government officials told them never to mention that they had come from Israel. They were not given any guarantees of refugee status, or permission to stay in Uganda. They were taken to a hotel for 3 days and given a fake Certificate of Identity (a paper photo ID), valid for one year, as citizens born in Uganda; their place of birth of the deportees is recorded as Kampala, and the document says they can travel to neighbouring countries. But they were told that this document was on no account to be shown to police or immigration officials in Uganda. They were expected to pretend to the police (to whom they must report) that they had come straight from Eritrea to seek asylum.

Even within Uganda, the scheme supposedly arranged with Israel is clearly unofficial and unrecognised. Uganda is clearly unwilling to grant refugee status to those forcibly removed from Israel. Uganda is only offering temporary transit on their journey to another unspecified country. There are no guarantees of safety or status offered by the Ugandan state to such Eritreans; they are once again treated as transient migrants.

The truth about this Israeli offer has suddenly been revealed — by the states which had supposedly agreed to receive the Eritrean refugees. On 3rd April 2018, Uganda joined Rwanda in denying it had ever clinched an agreement with Israel to absorb migrants deported from the Jewish state, with the Ugandan foreign minister saying it wouldn’t allow Israel to “dump their refugees here.” He said that if any migrants deported from Israel arrive in his country, “we will insist that the airlines return them to the country where they came from.”

There is only one inescapable conclusion: this supposedly “safe return to Africa” offer by Israel was nothing other than a “backdoor” people-smuggling racket, dressed up in utterly false assurances from the Israeli government and deceptive act by the recipient countries Rwanda and Uganda.

The three countries (Israel, Rwanda and Uganda) which have been involved in trafficking and bartering asylum seekers for cash or arms are parties to the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol.

Furthermore, Uganda hosts over 1 million refugees from South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Somalia, Rwanda and Eritrea, while Israel hosts about 39,000 asylum seekers including children. Israel’s GDP per capita is‎: USD ‎$44,019; while Uganda’s GDP per capita is: USD 653.2. This clearly shows that Uganda is a very poor country, which cannot afford to support refugees financially. In addition, because of the political and socio-economic problems in neighbouring countries, thousands of asylum seekers are entering Uganda every month.

The total number of asylum seekers in Israel is nothing compared to those in Uganda. What is motivating Uganda to want to give entry to the 39,000 asylum seekers from Israel? Is it perhaps the $5,000 USD per asylum seeker which Uganda, like Rwanda, receives from Israel? There is a simple word to describe this deal: it is “Corrupt”; people’s lives are being traded for cash.

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Recently, the Information Minister of Eritrea, Mr Yemane Gebermeskel, confirmed that indefinite National Service is going to remain without fundamental change, but that the government is planning to increase the present very low wages paid to conscripts: Eritrea won't shorten national service despite migration fears.

In effect, Eritrea is not prepared to stop forcing its youth into lengthy stretches of work as soldiers and civil servants, a conscription policy that is driving waves of refugees to leave the country to escape from compulsory National Service for an unlimited-period. Each month as many as 5,000 people flee Eritrea, according to U.N. figures.

National Service Labor

Legally, all Eritrean citizens, male and female, between the ages of 18 and 40, must complete 18 months of service to the state. But those who flee from the country say that this National Service can stretch to 15 years and even more. The government reserves the right to extend the length of service for any citizen without limit. Officially, compulsory military service does not extend beyond the age of 50, but one man was still in compulsory National Service at the age of 68. Eritreans in National Service receive military training for 6 months, and some may supposedly move into other government employment, including the civil service. At the end of active military service, citizens are supposed to have the right to return to their previous employment, but many are forced into government employment, only to become what might be termed “slave labourers” in construction and other industries, with no rights or freedom to leave this employment. During this period, the conscript is paid a wage, which is roughly equivalent to10 US Dollars per month.

In law and on paper, Eritrean military “training” (for 6 months) followed by “active military service” last in total for 18 months. Officially, when he or she has completed active military service, a conscripted citizen can leave the army. But a citizen who has completed active military service is often immediately and legally compelled to enter full time “Reserve” military service, which can extend “until he/she is released”. Anyone who tries to avoid or escape this compulsory employment is automatically imprisoned as an absconder, and severely tortured.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares that everyone has the right to work and to free choice of employment in just and favourable conditions”, and the “right to just and favourable remuneration.” There is clearly no free choice of employment for anyone subjected to Eritrean National Service, notably when it ends and he or she is drafted into labour not of their choice, for which he or she is paid a pittance. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights also declares that “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement within the borders of each state”, and the “right to leave his own country” to “seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.” There is a ‘shoot-to-kill’ policy, and no one who is involved in Eritrean National Service enjoys these rights to movement or to seek refuge elsewhere from an unjust regime.

The United Nations Human Rights Council appointed a Special Rapporteur to review human rights in Eritrea. In her 2014 report, she stated that the numbers of National service evaders or escapees and those suspected of wanting to flee or caught during flight.... may reach tens of thousands. ”Such persons are invariably arrested and detained. Detainees are held without being informed about the reason for their arrest and without an arrest warrant”. (sections 51 and 52). Eritrea justifies its retention of national service and harsh treatment of refugees and absconders from the military by citing continuing hostilities with Ethiopia.

But the Rapporteur declared, “Eritrea cannot use border disputes as an excuse to continue to violate its human rights obligation...the state obligation to respect, protect and fulfil human rights domestically is not dependent on external factors....The open-ended nature of national service is depriving the women and men of Eritrea of their most productive years, forcing them to cross borders to take their destiny into their own hands”. (sections 95 & 96)

In response to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Eritrea’s Human Rights in 2014, the government of Eritrea rejected recommendations to end enforced and indefinite-term military service, but stated that it had begun its demobilization programme in 2002. There is absolutely no evidence of any such demobilization. In the same UPR, the Government of Eritrea also rejected recommendations concerning conscription and abuse of child soldiers, stating that there is no under-age recruitment in Eritrea’s military. But students aged 16 and more are recruited every year into the Sawa Military Academy, starting their military training before they have become adults.

The Eritrean Government must listen to the international community and experts appointed by the United Nations and end the whole process of compulsory and indefinite National Military Service, putting a strict enforceable limit of not more than 18 months to the term of compulsory National Service; and Eritrea must offer non-military options for such Service. The Eritrean government must be told that conscripts are not slaves and they should not be held against their will in the military. No one must be arrested, imprisoned, or punished or shot for attempting to leave the military to lead a life of his/her choice, which is an inalienable right guaranteed under international law.